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Drone (episode)
A transporter accident involving the Doctor's mobile emitter and Seven's nanoprobes results in the creation of a 29th century Borg. Summary Seven of Nine is practicing her smiles in a mirror when the Doctor enters the cargo bay. Seven tells him that she objects that he walked in without announcing himself. The Doctor, who apologizes, comes to her because they are about to start a mission together with B'Elanna Torres and Tom Paris to survey a proto-nebula, which will come into existence within a short period of time. While walking to the shuttlebay they talk about the oncoming mission. En route to the nebula, they run into spatial turbulence and talk about the discomfort of class-2 shuttles. Seven asks Tom Paris why he does not design a new and larger shuttle, if he is so discontent with these class-two types. When the proto-nebula appears, the shuttle is caught in the gravimetric shear of a plasma surge a few seconds later, which causes the shuttle to lose its propulsion. When receives their distress call, Captain Janeway orders transporter room 1 to beam the shuttle crew out via an emergency beam-out. Because the shuttle is still caught by the proto-nebula, Ensign Mulcahey has trouble establishing a good pattern lock, but is able to beam them out. Despite a small problem to separate their patterns, he is able to re-materialize them safely. When they step off of the transporter platform, the Doctor's holomatrix begins to flicker; it seems his mobile emitter was damaged somehow. After Torres transfers his program to sickbay, she tells him that some emitter circuits were fused during transport. To see if she can repair the damage, she needs to perform a diagnostic on the mobile emitter. She and Mulcahey go to the science lab, where they started diagnostic routine alpha-three-six. Torres tells Mulcahey to check the result the next morning. After they leave the science lab, some assimilation tubules emerge from the mobile emitter and attach to the LCARS computer console where it is lying. The next morning, the Doctor calls Lieutenant Torres at six o'clock in the morning. He want to know when his mobile emitter will be repaired. When she walks into the sonic shower, he even appears on its display and an agitated B'Elanna throws her towel over it and ignores the Doctor completely. At about the same time, Seven's regeneration cycle is aborted prematurely because she detects a Borg presence. She goes to the bridge and informs them of her concerns. Ensign Harry Kim tells Seven that sensor sweeps were performed the entire night and no Borg presence was detected. When she suggests that a Borg vessel might hide within the proto-nebula, Harry tells her that even a Borg cube would not survive the nebula. Chakotay tells Seven to let the Doctor check her proximity transceiver to make sure it is not malfunctioning. While the Doctor is performing his check, she tells him her proximity transceiver was activated again. This has to do with Ensign Mulcahey who, upon starting his duty shift by checking the diagnostics results of the Doctor's mobile emitter, is probed by extraction tubules and has his DNA extracted from him. On the bridge, Harry Kim notices that power from the warp conduits is being re-routed to the science lab on deck eight and detects a force field with a Borg signature. Chakotay immediately orders red alert and tells Seven that she is right: Borg have been detected on Voyager and Lieutenant Commander Tuvok is on his way to the science lab with a security team. When Seven and Tuvok's security team enter the science lab, they find Ensign Mulcahey, unconscious, but alive, and notice a Borg-like maturation chamber protected by a force field. When Seven investigates the object, she finds it contains a drone in its fetal state. This is unusual, because the Borg assimilate, they do not procreate. When Captain Janeway is briefed by Seven, she is told that the drone is the result of a transporter accident that occurred when they were beamed from the shuttle. Her nanoprobes interacted with the Doctor's mobile emitter when their patterns were temporarily merged. Nanoprobes within the emitter assimilated the diagnostics console and used Mulcahey's DNA as a template to create the life form. Captain Janeway orders a level ten force field and twenty-four hour security around the science lab. She will not terminate the drone fetus unless she is forced to do so. Seven and the Doctor, together with Tuvok and Torres, are scanning the drone from astrometrics. Here they find it is human, but twenty seven percent of his body is made of Borg implants. Its body armor is made of the mobile emitter's polydutonic alloy, while the emitter itself is part of the drone's central nervous system and cannot be removed without killing it. Because of the emitter's origin, it is, in essence, a 29th century Borg drone. As a precaution, Seven dampens the proximity transceiver to prevent the drone from contacting the Borg Collective. When Seven briefs Captain Janeway about the drone's capabilities (internal transporter nodes, among other things), Seven is asked to act as its teacher, to teach the drone how to act as an individual. Captain Janeway sees this as the only possibility to prevent the drone from joining the Borg collective. Killing the drone is her last option. When the drone awakens from its alcove, it asks Seven of Nine its designation. Although Seven tells him it is irrelevant, it keeps asking for it. Seven is forced to initiate a direct neural interface, because the drone does not seem to understand her verbal instructions. When she tries to disengage the neural link, the drone tries to assimilate all of her knowledge and does not respond to her command to terminate the link. Only when Seven tells him he was hurting her does the drone disengage the neural link. Because of this incident, Seven decides to use Borg data nodes to teach the drone about its environment. When Neelix brings the first data node, Seven shows the drone how to assimilate the collected data via his assimilation tubules. Upon completion of assimilation of its data, he identifies Neelix and Seven and is aware of the existence of , which is traveling through interstellar space. Seven explains to him that Voyager is not a Borg collective, but that everyone on board is a unique individual. When the drone requests more information, Seven tells him that he first must see the Doctor for a medical evaluation. Neelix escorts the drone to sickbay, who notices a slight fear of him among the crewmembers and asks Neelix about the Borg. Neelix evades his question and tells him instead that he should get a name, because every individual has a name. While being scanned by the Doctor, the drone asks how he came into existence. The Doctor tells him about the transporter accident. Although his existence is an accident, he is told that he is not unwelcome and after some time, he will make a fine addition to the crew. It is, after all, Voyager's primary mission to explore new forms of life. After his medical check, Seven familiarizes the drone with Voyager. When they visit engineering, the drone helps Torres by predicting the rate of expansion of the proto-nebula. When they visit Captain Janeway, he tells her his designation is One, that he assimilated forty-seven billion teraquads of information, and asks her if he is sufficient. When Janeway tells him he is, One asks to be excused, as Torres had asked him to help improve the efficency of the bussard collectors. Seven tells Captain Janeway that One had asked about the Borg and she was worried that if he gains more knowledge about them, he might seek the Borg collective, which would pose a grave tactical risk. They decide not to tell him for the present time. When One is escorted to his alcove by Seven of Nine, he again asks to be told about the Borg when he sees that the alcoves are not Starfleet technology. Seven refuses and tells him to step into his alcove. Their regeneration cycle is interrupted by Captain Janeway and a security team. It seems One's cranial implant created a secondary proximity transceiver which transmitted a signal to the Borg collective. Voyager's long range sensors already detected a transwarp conduit. When One makes clear that he wanted to meet the Borg, Captain Janeway tells Seven that it is time to show One what and who the Borg are. In astrometrics, One watches and learns about the Borg. Seven tells him that individuals who are assimilated lose their individuality, that their minds are integrated into the hive mind, and their bodies are augmented with cybernetic implants. One tells them he desires to experience the hive mind, where upon Captain Janeway tells him that if he does so, he will no longer be unique, his individuality will be destroyed. One wonders how the Borg can be so destructive, while Seven is not. Janeway explains to him that Seven has regained her individuality, but if the Borg had the chance, they would reintegrate her back into the hive mind. Janeway tells One that if the Borg assimilate him, they will become even more destructive. When One asks Seven if she would rejoin the Borg collective if she had the chance, she answers that Voyager is her collective. Their conversation is interrupted by Chakotay's call to man battle stations, as a Borg vessel is approaching. One and Seven are on their way to the bridge when he tells her about changes in his autonomic nervous system. Seven tells him that he is experiencing anxiety, an emotion, a state of apprehension caused by fear, and that she feels the same. Seven tells him that they will engage the Borg: although the Borg are powerful, they will resist them. When One tells her that resistance is futile, Seven tells him this is not always the case. When they enter the bridge, the Borg sphere begins to scan Voyager and One enhances Voyager's shields. He and Seven hear the collective, millions of voices calling to them. Seven tells him to resist the voices; otherwise Voyager and its crew will be destroyed. Although One manages to break Voyager free of the Borg's tractor beam, his phaser enhancements are not enough to fight the Borg. One tells Seven that he needs to be on the Borg ship itself, as he cannot enhance Voyager's systems any further. One transports himself to the Borg sphere after assuring Seven they will fail to assimilate him into the collective. When One materializes he tells the collective that his technology is superior and if the collective will not stop the attack on Voyager, he will destroy their ship. Some drones try to stop him, but to no avail. One manages to interface with the collective and steer the ship into the proto-nebula. He does not respond to the collective's request to terminate his link. When the Borg sphere comes too close to the nebula, it implodes. After Captain Janeway orders Voyager to stand down red alert and deploy damage control teams, Harry Kim detects life signs in the debris field. It is One, alive after using a multi-spatial force field around his body. Captain Janeway tells Harry to beam One directly to sickbay. Upon entering sickbay, the Doctor informs Seven that he has already scanned One for injuries: his implants will regenerate but his biological parts are severely damaged. One tells her he heard the Borg collective and they now knew of his existence. As long as he is alive, Seven and the crew of Voyager will be in danger. One refuses further medical treatment, using his force field to stop the Doctor from helping him, despite Seven's emotional plea to comply with her wishes. One tells Seven that his existence is an accident and that he should never have existed. After assuring her that she will adapt to his absence, One dies. Seven enters the cargo bay and looks into the mirror, and the grief that is reflected is all too real. Log Entries *''Captain's log, supplemental. This proto-nebula seems to have a mind of its own. It's still expanding, with no end in sight. We're holding at a safe distance to monitor its growth. '' *''Daily log, Seven of Nine. I've activated the drone's linguistic database. It is now capable of assimilating information. A direct neural link is too dangerous so I decided to use Borg data-nodes. '' Memorable Quotes "The Borg: party-poopers of the galaxy." : - The Doctor "I`m a doctor, not a peeping Tom." : - The Doctor "It's 0600 hours. Early bird gets the gagh." : - The Doctor, to B'Elanna Torres "Good morning.'" "''That remains to be seen.'" : - '''Seven of Nine' to Chakotay after her proximity transceiver has been activated "You are hurting me." "I will comply." : - Seven of Nine and One, as she tries to disengage their neural link "How many Borg hitchhikers are we going to pick up on this trip? Maybe this is the collective's new strategy. They don't assimilate anymore; they just show up and look helpless." : - Torres "I see you've got your mother's sense of humor." : - The Doctor, to One referring to Seven of Nine "You are hurting me." "You will adapt." : - Seven of Nine and One, as he refuses to allow the Doctor to treat him and dies Background Information *The images that are displayed while the drone is assimilating information from Voyager's computer include two unnamed planets and schematics of the Phoenix warp ship, a Cardassian military freighter, a starship, a sleeper ship, a K'Vort-class Klingon Bird-of-Prey, a Marauder, a Romulan Bird-of-Prey (23rd century), an Academy flight trainer, a Jem'Hadar warship, a Klingon D7 battle cruiser, a Vulcan long range shuttle, an Orbital office complex, a battleship, a Warbird, a starship, and a ''Negh'Var'' warship. *J. Paul Boehmer, who guest starred as One, was last seen as a German Commandant and father to B'Elanna Torres' unborn holographic child in the season 4 two-parter . *This episode marks the first appearance of a Borg sphere in the series and the second overall after . *One's body armor has a design unlike any other Borg body armor. Aside from its composition, it has tubing at the ribs, legs, and shoulders that glows blue every two seconds. *The fate of the Doctor's mobile emitter is not addressed on-screen. As it is present in subsequent episodes, it is likely that it was removed from One's corpse. *When convincing One that he needs a name, Neelix says that the crew cannot call him the "drone" because it is "not very interesting." Ironically, this unused name is used for the title of this episode. The name "One" had already been given to a previous episode. *While in the shuttle at the beginning of the episode, Seven of Nine tells Tom Paris that he should build a new shuttle model, therefore making a reference to the Delta Flyer, which would be built in the next episode ( ). *The small clips that One watches regarding the Borg Collective were clips from and . Video and DVD releases *UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 5.1, . *As part of the VOY Season 5 DVD collection. *As part of the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg collection. Links and References Guest Stars * J. Paul Boehmer as One * Todd Babcock as Mulcahey Co-Star * Majel Barrett as Computer Voice Uncredited Co-Stars *David Keith Anderson as Ensign Ashmore *Pablo Soriano as an ensign *Chester E. Tripp III (stunt actor) References ablative armor; artificial gravity; Borg; Borg Collective; Borg cube; Borg long-range tactical vessel; Bussard collector; cerebral cortex; class 2 claustrophobia; class 2 shuttlecraft; cranial implant; data node; diagnostic routine; duranium; dyne; emitter circuit; extraction tubule; force field; gagh; gold star; gravimetric shear; holo-imaging device; internal transporter node; joke; life support system; maturation chamber; mobile emitter; multi-dimensional adaptability; multi-spatial force field; multi-spectral algorithm; nanoprobe; neural interface; phaser; pheromone; plasma; poly-deutonic alloy; proto-nebula; protostar; proximity transceiver; radiation; reactive armor; shield generator; shield modulation; sonic shower; spatial turbulence; tractor beam; transwarp conduit; teraquad; Unimatrix 325, Grid 006; warp conduit |next= }} Category:VOY episodes de:Die Drohne fr:Drone (épisode) nl:Drone (aflevering)